Hey so I just test drove this car today. It was a 1998 Infiniti I30 and it has 180000 miles on it. It seemed to drive pretty smooth. The AC worked. All the power components worked. It had leather ish seats. It had a sunroof. The stereo works. The only thing I noticed is that it started shaking on the highway once I reached 60 mph. I read online that's probably due to tires or a problem with the axle. Not really sure exactly why though. Other than that it was pretty good.
The thing is the guy who met me clearly isn't the owner. He didn't really know much about the vehicle. He just drove it to where he told me to meet him and we test drove it. I could tell he sold cars regularly. He has good reviews on Facebook but I am still unsure how I feel about everything. I want the car but I also don't even know if it's a good deal for the amount of miles the cars has.
Thank you for any feedback
Welcome new member. This one’s a hard no.
There is a pretty common tactic in used cars. Flippers buy auction cars. [Auction cars are usually cars that dealers take in trade that aren’t worth detailing and reselling. They often have serious mechanical problems, which is why the original owners traded them in.] They do a quick fix using the cheapest parts possible, and flip them. Often they have a small gang of agents who show them to potential buyers, giving the appearance of a private seller (but as you noticed, the agent knows very little about the car besides the seller’s lowest offer). Then they all disappear, and since they don’t usually have a permanent sales lot it can be nearly impossible to find them again.
There is a lot of risk in buying a car like this. Very likely you will encounter major problems with the car in the near future (and like Scotty says, it could get real expensive real quick). Besides the mechanicals, you can also run into problems getting the car registered, and since the seller might vanish, it could be a nightmare trying to get all the paperwork sorted.
When you buy from a private party, you have to confirm that the seller actually owns the car and has a record of how long he/she has owned it. If it’s a flip, keep looking. If you can’t find what you want from a real private party seller, then make sure the dealer you work with is legitimate. Work with a highly-rated dealer who has been in the community, in an established physical location, for a long time and has earned a good reputation (relative, anyway, as used car dealers go).
Good luck!
Well let me tell you those infinities are endless money pits as they age and have that mileage. I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10 foot ball
